"A Christian journalists's duty is to inform, edify and even entertain; but even more important, it is to reveal to his reader the face of Christ."

"In purerly practical terms the Christian journalist should never make the mistake of undermining his credibility by overstating his case with exaggerated generalizations that don't follow from the evidence. Let understatement trump overstatement."

"At the very least, don't come across as frustrated and never rant."

Here are three principles of writing that Field gleans from Chesterton.

"First, his writing – no matter how serious the subject matter – was always suffused with Christian joy and hope. Second, a detached playfulness always marked his writing and he was always personal, never taking himself too seriously. Third, although Chesterton was not averse to a little good-hearted ridicule, the emphasis was always on 'good-hearted'; he was never vindictive. And most important, within his own style and personality, Chesterton's writing comes from a place of such child-like innocence that it always manages to be a beautiful reflection and reminder of the Lord's own voice."

How often are your posts and comments joyous and hopeful? Do your fisks show detached playfulness? Do you take yourself too seriously? Are you vindictive or do you remind your readers of God's voice? I don't know about you, but I'm guilty on all counts.

"Given the choice, I personally would rather be in a Church with confused, ignorant, and overly protective troublemakers than with well-catechized and theologically educated people who don't give a rat's ass about the confused and the ignorant."

"But I'm not given that choice. I'm told there's only one Church, and what ultimately determines whether I personally am in that one Church is how well I love others, the troublemakers and the self-satisfied included."

"At this point, I don't do that very well. So either everyone is going to have to become a whole lot more lovable, or I am going to have to become a whole lot more loving."

This looks terrific! Lots of good ideas to help promote civility, something our society needs A LOT more of. I’ve only been able to skim the post so far, but look forward to giving it a close read. And I’m definitely linking to it from my own fledgling blog. This one’s a keeper!

I wonder if “cyber-disinhibition” has its counterpart in “cyber-intimacy.” Many people in chat rooms, for instance, experience a sense of knowing their conversation partner far more closely than is actually the case. I once knew a woman who met a man on a Christian internet dating site (in itself not a bad way to meet someone in a world where traditional social institutions have eroded). They exchanged emails and instant messages for months and fell deeply in love — only to encounter blatant differences in temperament, etc., when they met in person.

This doesn’t just happen in dating relationships, either. Married people have been known to engaged in emotional affairs — often just as wounding as sexual affairs — with someone online.

“I’d love to see some substantiation to the claim that all sarcasm is “evil” or ungodly.”

I don’t recall saying that. That’d be a pretty odd thing for a sarcastic guy like me to say. 😉 I also happen to believe Jesus, Paul, and likely several other biblical figures used it. I do think that sarcasm needs to be emploted judiciously. I think more often then not it’s used to break people down instead of building them up. I can’t recall the verse, but I’m pretty certain Paul warned against harsh speech that disparages.

Very nicely done. I don’t know that we ever had the plot, I know we wish we did, or that we’d like to believe we do. This is a come back to post, lots of good reminders in it, thank you!

May I point something out?I don’t know that Christian journalist has any more meaning that Christian lawyer, hydro worker, Wal-Mart clerk or Christian IT specialist. Journalist, lawyer, hydro worker, Wal-Mart clerk and IT specialist who are Christians is more realistic.:^)

Thanks for dropping by, Bene. I’m glad you like the post. 🙂 I hope it has a lasting impact on folks who read it (including myself). There are so many important lessons that I merely pay lip service to. 🙁

General Interest The General Interest folks get a free pass from needing to disclose denominational affiliation, since if it’s really general interest, everyone should be able to appreciate it. Ales Rarus asks Have Christian Bloggers Lost the Plot?

??? Great moments in parenting… they don’t usually look like Norman Rockwell paintings… they often look a lot like this. HT: Thoughts and Reflections ??? Here’s this week’s version of”what’s wrong with Godblogging and how can we fix it?”. It’s probably healthy to revisit this once in awhile and this is the most encyclopedic effort I’ve seen to date. Lots of constructive criticism and helpful ideas here, courtesy of Ales Rarus. ???

Funky Dung of Ales Rarus confesses “When it comes to the kind of acerbic and caustic blogging that I believe is poisoning the Body of Christ, and the rest of the world for that matter, I too am guilty.” He offersHave Christian Bloggers Lost the Plot? to help remedy the situation. In The Allure of Toys: You May Want to Play With Them, But They Don’t Want to Play With You, Shaun Nolan at Postscript Posthaste suggests that parents take a greater role is deciding which toys our children play with.

“The Ten Commandments for Homeschooling Moms” at SpunkyHomeschool brought back a few memories. The wisdom contained therein is applicable to non-homeschool families as well. A long, rambling post on the way Christian bloggers blog,”Have Christian Bloggers Lost the Plot?” by Ales Rarus, has some interesting points. You may need to bookmark it and come back to it, though. There’s more there than you can digest in a single reading, IMO. My contribution to this week’s Carnival is

asks Christian bloggerAles Rarus If I had to summarize in one sentence the main reason I blog and how I choose what to blog about, Id say that Id like to help people stop begging questions, talking past one another, and calling each other silly and rude names, and start

about her personal journey toward God. Bloggers (typically) love books and Nature and Mission of Theology feeds us with great quotes from the book of the same title by Pope Benedict XVI. From Crusader of Justice.Have Christian Bloggers Lost the Plot? Ales Rarus is trying to help people stop begging questions, talking past one another, and calling each other silly and rude names, and start thinking critically, listening to one another, and treating each other with, at minimum, the same love theyd

[…] Far too much air is expended, too much ink spilled, and too many pixels lit in battles over orthodoxy. Why don’t we spend a little more time talking about orthopraxy? I addressed a specific aspect of this topic, civility in discourse, in an earlier post. There’s more to being Christians than just being civil, though. That’s not meritorious behavior, just what is expected of us. There are poor, lonely, hurt, angry, sick, and otherwise needy people in this world. Let’s try spending a little more time caring about them, and leave theology to the theologians once in a while. It’s fine to have a rousing debate once in a while, but it doesn’t fulfill our duties as Christians, as people commanded to love to the point of laying down our lives. Instead of being quick to label each other heretic and refuse to have dealings with each other, let’s work together to spread the love of God. Even nonbelievers can do that; Jesus said so. […]

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Since I re-entered the blogosphere last fall, I’ve been collecting links to blog posts about blogging as a sort of anthology for personal use. I didn’t start out to make it comprehensive or even a “best of” collection; it’s just examples of writi …

[…] Is NFP Just Another Form of Contraception?Why Is Prostitution Illegal?Investigating NFP: PrefaceApology Due to Michael Schiavo?The Church in the Modern WorldSenator Specter’s Snake OilHave Christian Bloggers Lost the Plot?Yet More Adult Stem Cell AdvancesLiturgical Soapbox: Humility, Contrition, and Petitions in the Tridentine and Novus Ordo MissalsShut Up and Fill the Prescription Featured Posts Engaged Encounter Part I: House of God?Investigating NFP: Pius XIIs NFP Just Another Form of Contraception?Salvation, Discipleship, and PrioritiesReligion as Sacred and Science as Profane Recent Posts […]